Chubarov: Russia must come to the negotiating table

Unless Russia comes to the negotiating table, all the measures taken by Ukraine and the international community on the de-occupation of Crimea will be fruitless, said Refat Chubarov.

KYIV (QHA) -

To date, it is very important to understand what tools the international organizations involve for the de-occupation of Crimea and whether they are safe for the residents of the peninsula, Refat Chubarov, Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, said an international conference "Militarization of occupied Crimea as a threat to international security."

Chubarov stressed the safety of the Crimean residents also must be taken into account.

- It must be admitted that, in our view, most of the approaches currently proposed to address the crisis, do not always take into account the safety of the people living in Crimea. There are whole groups that are a subject of targeted repressions by the so-called authorities. Especially the Crimean Tatars. It seems they pay for their stance, which now coincides with that one of the international community. At this point, the international community cannot protect these people, said Chubarov.

According to him, the Crimean Tatars have to remind Ukrainian and the world politics on the Crimean issue that it is not left by the wayside.

- We have not just to remind Ukraine and the world about the Crimean issue, we also have to oblige our Ukrainian and international policy makers to engage in the Crimean issue. One of the tools we used to do it was the Crimean civil blockade, which brought the problem back on the agenda.

Chubarov went on saying that the current task of the Crimean Tatars is to force Russia to come to the negotiating table over Crimea, otherwise all the other actions taken by Ukraine and the world, will remain fruitless.